Hope, Imagination, & Resistance

Summary

Brew City Church Podcast

Episode: Hope, Imagination, & Resistance

Date: April 5, 2026
Hosts: Pastor Bill & Pastor Randy

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Episode Overview

This Easter episode centers on the enduring impact of the resurrection of Jesus, exploring how resurrection brings hope amid hardship, reimagines how we see the world, and inspires faithful resistance to the destructive narratives and powers of our age. With frank honesty about pain and loss, the pastors guide listeners through the biblical story of Mary at the tomb, the persecution faced by the early church, and the relevance of these themes in contemporary culture. The tone is empathetic, personal, and deeply rooted in the lived experience of faith in a broken world.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Reflecting on Easter as “Christian New Year”

• Easter as a time of reflection:
  • The pastors compare Easter to a “Christian New Year,” a milestone prompting us to reflect on the past year—both its joys and its sufferings. (00:55)
  • "Easter today feels like a new year to me. It's a moment... when I feel like it's a day we get to reflect a little bit." – Pastor Bill (01:00)
• Naming the year’s heaviness:
  • Honest acknowledgment of both celebration and pain, from engagements and new beginnings to divorce, addiction, diagnosis, and loss.
  • “For some of us ... this year was not all that, right?” – Pastor Randy (02:16)
  • Listeners are invited to pause and be present to their grief and heaviness before moving toward hope. (03:34)

The Encounter at the Tomb: Mary & the Risen Jesus

• The emotional power of the resurrection story:
  • The recounting of John 20, where Mary, weeping at the tomb, is comforted and recognized by Jesus.
  • “And Jesus said to her, Mary... just called her by her name.” – Pastor Randy (06:13)
• Personal application:
  • The story is held up as an archetype for meeting Jesus in our grief—a moment of profound hope birthed through pain.

Three Gifts of the Resurrection

1. Resurrection Hope (07:10–18:44)

• Rooted in Suffering:
  • The original recipients of Peter’s letter were persecuted believers in Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey), facing family rejection, loss of livelihood, and marginalization.
  • “The persecution that these followers of Jesus were feeling in Asia Minor was real... Imagine the loneliness.” – Pastor Bill (09:20)
• Living Hope Defined:
  • Quoting 1 Peter 1: “In his great mercy, he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” – Pastor Bill (10:15)
• Hope for All Circumstances:
  • The Greek word “pas” (“everything”): God’s renewal includes all things—addiction, divorce, self-harm, death, diagnosis.
  • “There is always hope.” – Pastor Bill (16:31)
  • Listeners are reassured that resurrection means hope in the very center of life’s deepest pain.

2. Resurrection Imagination (18:48–27:59)

• The stories we’re told:
  • The world’s dominant narratives are obsessed with power, violence, greed, and scarcity.
  • “Our world is telling really bad stories right now...that violence is a way to power.” – Pastor Randy (19:15, 19:34)
• Technology & competing for imagination:
  • Citing Michael Pollan and Reed Hastings (Netflix), the pastors note how tech companies vie for control of our attention, even competing with our sleep.
    • “We actually compete with sleep.” – Reed Hastings (23:27)
    • “They're competing for space inside of you. They're competing for the stories in your head.” – Pastor Bill (24:00)
• The stickiness of negativity:
  • Scientific insight: Negative thoughts are like Velcro, positive thoughts like Teflon. This fuels our cultural bias toward fear and outrage. (25:10)
• The need for ‘resurrection imagination’:
  • Jesus modeled a radically alternative vision—seeing people and possibilities the world misses.
  • “God is the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that are not.” (26:41, quoting Romans 4)
  • “We're in need of a better story to tell ourselves, a resurrection imagination that wants to help us see one another in the way that Jesus saw people around him.” – Pastor Bill (27:51)

3. Resurrection Resistance (28:00–36:09)

• Babylon as a metaphor:
  • Peter refers to Rome as “Babylon”—the biblical archetype for empire and oppression. (29:00–30:37)
  • “She who is in Babylon sends her greetings.” – 1 Peter 5 (28:52)
• Relevance to American Christians:
  • The US, like Rome, is an empire marked by stories of violence, privilege, and division.
  • “USA equals Babylon, friends.” – Pastor Randy (33:18)
• Invitation to faithful resistance:
  • The resurrection calls us to refuse the empire’s narratives—choosing hope, justice, and love instead.
  • “It was a word of resistance to say, we’re not falling for it.” – Pastor Bill (33:26)
• Personal decision:
  • “What stories and narratives are we letting fill our minds? ... Are we going to choose to embody and live out the resurrection, or just get sucked into this vortex of despair?” – Pastor Bill (34:01–34:29)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “I kind of feel like Easter is like Christian New Year.”
  – Pastor Bill (00:55)
• “And Jesus said to her, Mary...”
  – Pastor Randy (06:13)
  A deeply emotional moment, anchoring hope in personal experience.
• “Because Jesus is alive… there is always hope.”
  – Pastor Bill (13:22)
• “He is the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not.”
  – Pastor Bill (26:41, quoting Romans 4)
• “She who is in Babylon… sends her greetings.”
  – Pastor Bill (28:52)
• “USA equals Babylon, friends.”
  – Pastor Randy (33:18)
• “We need a better story to tell ourselves, a resurrection imagination...”
  – Pastor Bill (27:51)
• Prayerful Plea:
  • “Jesus, I need you today to fill my mind... with these stories of the resurrection.” (34:44)
  • “I want to be reminded, Jesus, that the resurrection means that I can have hope in the face of the despair I feel.” (35:46)

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Important Timestamps

• 00:55 – Easter as "Christian New Year": Reflecting on the year’s weight.
• 06:13 – Mary’s encounter with the risen Jesus: a moment of naming and hope.
• 09:20 – Historic context of persecution among early Christians.
• 10:15–11:29 – Reading of 1 Peter 1: “Living hope through the resurrection.”
• 13:07 – "Hope is not a strategy"—challenging cultural cynicism.
• 14:17 – Reading of Revelation 21: God’s promise to “make everything new.”
• 16:31–18:44 – Declaration: “There’s always hope”—addressing addiction, loss, and pain.
• 19:15–20:10 – The world’s stories versus resurrection stories.
• 22:45–23:27 – Reed Hastings on Netflix’s competition with sleep.
• 25:10 – The neuroscience of negativity's “stickiness.”
• 26:41 – Romans 4: “Calls into being things that are not.”
• 28:52–30:23 – Rome as Babylon: the call to resistance.
• 33:18 – “USA equals Babylon”: connecting the metaphor to present-day America.
• 34:01–34:29 – Life-shaping choice: which narratives will fill our minds and lives?
• 34:44–36:36 – Closing prayer: longing for resurrection hope, imagination, and resistance.

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Conclusion

This episode offers an honest, nuanced, and inspiring look at Easter, urging listeners to move beyond sentimentality toward a lived faith grounded in hope, reimagined vision, and countercultural resistance. Whether encountering deep suffering or celebration, listeners are invited to anchor their lives in the resurrection story—a story bigger than personal pain or the narratives of empire. The final call is to let Jesus and his new creation story shape hearts, minds, and communities.

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For further notes and conversations, contact Brew City Church or join their community in Milwaukee.

Transcript

[Podcast Host]

Welcome to the Brew City Church Podcast. We are a Christian church following in the way of Jesus and located in the heart of downtown Milwaukee. We're glad you've joined us and we hope you enjoy this week's message.

[Pastor Bill]

Good morning. Happy Easter, friends.

[Pastor Randy]

Yes, Happy Easter. It feels like, well, not a lot of time.

[Pastor Bill]

It's been about three months and a

[Pastor Randy]

couple of days since we were here in the evening on December 23. Celebrating the birth of Christ, celebrating the birth of life and hope in a dark room.

[Pastor Bill]

And as Christmas fades into New Year in that week, many of us become reflective, right? And we kind of get into this

[Pastor Randy]

mode where we're reflecting on the year past and thinking about what we're hoping

[Pastor Bill]

for the year year in the future at New Year's. It's just a natural thing to do. We get reflective. I kind of feel like Easter is like Christian New Year. Do you know what I'm talking about? Easter today feels like a new year to me. It's a year where it's a moment, it's a day when I feel like

[Pastor Randy]

it's a day when we get to reflect a little bit.

[Pastor Bill]

We get to feel and reflect the way this past year has been and kind of reflect even on what's been really beautiful and life giving and hope

[Pastor Randy]

filled and what's been maybe some disappointments and some longings and some uncertainty and fear and all the things. And we kind of evaluate what side of the scale is heavier.

[Pastor Bill]

How,

[Pastor Randy]

as you think about the last year or so, how's your year been

[Pastor Bill]

for some of you? For some of us, I'm sure it's

[Pastor Randy]

been a magical year.

[Pastor Bill]

Maybe a year when you got engaged and you're looking forward to this coming year when you're going to get tied the knot and it's going to be this great celebration. You're doing all sorts of planning. Or maybe this was the year that happened for you. Maybe there's some just goodness and beauty that you've been longing for. It's happened.

[Pastor Randy]

If that's the case, man, we are so. I'm so excited for you. Like that's incredible. Celebrate with you. But we all know that there's the other side of the scale. Some of us who this year was not all that, right? Where maybe instead of getting married, maybe you're dealing with divorce, maybe it's staring you in the eye or your wife or your husband told you that this is something they've been thinking about, or maybe you're in the course of it right now and it feels like the Rug's been torn out from underneath you. Maybe. Maybe this was a year of a diagnosis that changed the course of your life and your family's lives. Maybe this was a year of death, too much of it, or maybe just the wrong one. I know this isn't why you came to Easter service today, and I know

[Pastor Bill]

you might be, if you're new here, you might be thinking this might be

[Pastor Randy]

the last time I go here.

[Pastor Bill]

But see, I think

[Pastor Randy]

when we come

[Pastor Bill]

to this kind of reflective time, a

[Pastor Randy]

Christian New Year, let's say Easter, for us to really actually take in the strength and the power and the goodness of the resurrection, I think we actually need to be present to the weight, to the grief. So I'm going to ask you friends just to think for a little bit what, what was it for you this year? What's the weight of the year? What's the heaviness of the year? I'm going to ask you to actually think of it and be present to it. I'm sorry. Maybe for some of us it was it's addiction that just. We always think there's, there's, we're going to do something different, but it just never, we're never able to do it. Maybe it's self harm and the emptiness that comes with it. I don't know what it is for you, but I just, I just want to take a moment and be present to those realities. I'm going to read a story that has been told this morning already and says this now. Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white.

[Pastor Bill]

Can you picture it?

[Pastor Randy]

I hope you are as she wept. I know some of us know weeping really well.

[Pastor Bill]

As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white seated where Jesus body had been. One at the head and the other at the foot.

[Pastor Randy]

And they asked her, woman, why are you crying? Mary said, they have taken my Lord away and I don't know where they have put him at this. Imagine this, picture it in your grief, your longing, in your uncertainty, in your fear. At this she turned around and saw Jesus standing there. But she didn't realize it was Jesus, see.

[Pastor Bill]

So he asked her, woman, why are you crying?

[Pastor Randy]

Who is it you're looking for?

[Pastor Bill]

Thinking Jesus was the gardener, she said, sir, if you've carried him away, tell me where you've put him and I will get him.

[Pastor Randy]

And Jesus said to her, mary,

[Podcast Host]

I

[Pastor Randy]

can barely get through it. And Jesus said to her, mary just called her by her name.

[Pastor Bill]

And she turned toward him and cried

[Pastor Randy]

out in Aramaic, rabboni, which means teacher.

[Pastor Bill]

And Jesus said, don't hold on to

[Pastor Randy]

me, Mary, for I have yet to ascend.

[Pastor Bill]

I have not yet ascended to the Father, but go instead to my brothers and tell them I. I'm ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.

[Pastor Randy]

And Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news. The first sermon that Shelley told us about, I have seen the Lord. And she told them that he said these things to her.

[Pastor Bill]

See, this morning, I want to think about a couple of things, just three things with the rest of our time.

[Pastor Randy]

This morning,

[Pastor Bill]

I want to root ourselves in this story. And I want to think about how the resurrection, I think, wants to give birth to a few things in our

[Pastor Randy]

lives

[Pastor Bill]

in light of all the weight and the heaviness and the grief and the weariness and the weeping, just like Mary was doing. I think Jesus wants to give us three things, and we're going to think about them. It's resurrection, hope, resurrection, imagination,

[Pastor Randy]

resurrection resistance, resurrection hope, resurrection imagination, and resurrection resistance.

[Pastor Bill]

We're going to kind of dip to and from in the New Testament together. But our main text is going to be from the book of First Peter and First Peter is a letter that Peter wrote to several churches in a region. It's called a circular letter,

[Pastor Randy]

and it

[Pastor Bill]

was written to churches, to people who were living in what was called Asia Minor. Asia Minor is what's now basically Turkey, modern day Turkey. And these believers in Asia Minor, Peter wrote to them because there was something going on. And that something was persecution. And when I say persecution, I don't mean the kind of persecution that says Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas.

[Pastor Randy]

I mean real persecution. I mean when people would say yes to Jesus and their families would say yes to Jesus. For these churches, it meant it was going to cost them something.

[Pastor Bill]

It meant it was going to cost them relationships. Like they would be thrown out of many of their social groups and circles and in closest, closest friends. It meant for some of them, they would get tossed out of their family. Their family would tell them, you're dead to me now. For some of them, they would lose their jobs because they said they decided to follow Jesus. They were ejected out of their local economy.

[Pastor Randy]

Bill, you killed my voice. Where are you at? That was tasty, brother. But pray for me that I can get through this. Now.

[Pastor Bill]

The persecution that these followers of Jesus were feeling in Asia Minor was real. They would get kicked out of their social groups and their families. Imagine the loneliness of getting Ejected out of these groups of people. And then they would lose their jobs, many of them. They would get ejected out of the local economy and having to figure out, how am I going to provide for my family? Because I said yes to Jesus.

[Pastor Randy]

And even worse than that, these are people acquainted with suffering, acquainted with feeling

[Pastor Bill]

like they're on the outside looking in. People who are marginalized. We talk about marginalized people a lot around here at Bruce City Church.

[Pastor Randy]

These were people marginalized because they said yes to Jesus. And I want to read what Peter

[Pastor Bill]

had to say to them in their first chapter.

[Pastor Randy]

This is first Peter one.

[Pastor Bill]

And Peter said this. Praise be to the God and Father

[Pastor Randy]

of our Lord Jesus Christ.

[Pastor Bill]

In his great mercy, he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

[Pastor Randy]

Peter's not short on words.

[Pastor Bill]

In his great mercy, he has given

[Pastor Randy]

us new birth into a living hope

[Pastor Bill]

through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fate. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you who through. Who through faith, are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In all this you greatly rejoice, though for now, for a little while, you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith, of greater worth than gold which perishes even though refined by fire, may result in praise and

[Pastor Randy]

glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him

[Pastor Bill]

even. And even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with inexpressible and glorious joy. For you are receiving the end result

[Pastor Randy]

of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

[Pastor Bill]

See, Peter is. Peter knows who he's talking to here, friends. Peter knows he's talking to a group of people who are dealing with the stuff of life. Peter knows he's talking to the people, just like I'm talking to you. See, I don't know your story, but

[Pastor Randy]

I know there's stuff underneath the surface. I know there's a weight. I know there's longings. I know there's suffering. I know there's griefs. I know there's pain.

[Pastor Bill]

Some of you, I get the privilege

[Pastor Randy]

of talking to in pastoral ways and journeying with you and helping you process some of those things. Peter was talking to a church that had this weight. Peter was talking to this church that.

[Pastor Bill]

That was facing down this reality of not knowing how to provide for my family. Because I followed Jesus. And still he was able to speak to this living hope that we have.

[Pastor Randy]

Because he said, because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. See this living hope that we have.

[Pastor Bill]

Peter says, I was on a zoom

[Pastor Randy]

call the other day and I was

[Pastor Bill]

talking to a guy, a friend of

[Pastor Randy]

mine, who's a businessman. He's a good businessman.

[Pastor Bill]

He's smart, he does well. And somebody mentioned hope. And he mentioned, and this is a

[Pastor Randy]

good friend of mine, I can say this.

[Pastor Bill]

He mentioned that, like one of these

[Pastor Randy]

kind of obnoxious business Y phrases. I think some of you know what I'm going to say. He said, hope is not a strategy. Do you know what I'm talking about?

[Pastor Bill]

And I'm sorry if you're a business

[Pastor Randy]

guy who said that. Recently, Peter is able to bring this message of a living hope to this

[Pastor Bill]

church in Asia Minor who are under

[Pastor Randy]

this weight of suffering because he says,

[Pastor Bill]

because Jesus is alive. Because there's. Let me read something for you.

[Pastor Randy]

I was at a funeral just recently and this verse was read to me and it reminded me of this living hope. It's this verse that does something to me every time I hear it. This is in Revelation 21.

[Pastor Bill]

I think this is what Peter's talking

[Pastor Randy]

about when he says, there is a living hope for you who are under

[Pastor Bill]

the weight of grieving, under the weight of weariness, under the weight of self harm, under the weight of addiction, under the weight of death and diagnoses.

[Pastor Randy]

Here's a verse for you. John says, then I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the holy city and the new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from

[Pastor Bill]

the throne saying, look, God's dwelling place is now among the people. And he will dwell with them. They will be his people. And God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes.

[Pastor Randy]

There will be no more death. There will be no more mourning. There will be no more crying. There will be no more pain, for the old orders of things have passed away. And here it is. And John saw this and heard this. And he said, he who is seated on the throne said this. And this is the living hope that

[Pastor Bill]

Peter is talking about, the resurrected Jesus Christ himself.

[Pastor Randy]

He says, I am making everything new. He who was seated on the throne said, I am making everything new. Then he said, write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true. So I want to just hang with

[Pastor Bill]

me here for another second here, friends,

[Pastor Randy]

I want to know what was it? As I asked you to be present with the weights, be present with the grief, be present with that. What was it for?

[Pastor Bill]

You see, because what I believe in this, because of this text here. When Jesus says, I am making everything new. The Greek word everything is very simple.

[Pastor Randy]

It's pas. Pas.

[Pastor Bill]

And do you know what pas means? It means everything. Like everything, all things. Some translations say all, all things.

[Pastor Randy]

That means that I can stand here and look at you in the eye and tell you, what was it for you? When we sat and we were present with our grief and our suffering and the stuff of this past year, what

[Pastor Bill]

was it for you?

[Pastor Randy]

Was it addiction for you? This thing that feels like it's been

[Pastor Bill]

gnawing at your back and you've longed to get rid of it and it feels like your closest friend and your worst enemy and you can't get rid of it? I. I want to tell you in those moments of desperation and darkness in

[Pastor Randy]

your addiction, friends, there is always hope.

[Pastor Bill]

Can I tell? There's always hope. Was it maybe for you it was

[Pastor Randy]

when I mentioned the divorce thing or the marriage thing that started out as

[Pastor Bill]

this beautiful life giving thing and now it's sucking the life out of you. And maybe you feel like a failure

[Pastor Randy]

and you feel shame and you feel

[Pastor Bill]

like you don't want to talk about it at all, but it's the only thing that people want to talk about.

[Pastor Randy]

Do you know what I'm talking about? I want to tell you even in that shame and guilt and embarrassment and pain and uncertainty and feeling like I don't know where I'm going to go next, I don't know how to put one foot in front of the other. I want to tell you, friends, there's always hope.

[Pastor Bill]

Always hope. If it was, was it? Which was it?

[Pastor Randy]

Self harm, maybe and just feeling that

[Pastor Bill]

weight of

[Pastor Randy]

darkness and aloneness and just

[Pastor Bill]

needing to feel something. I want to tell you, friends, even in that moment, even in those. These dark, quiet moments, there's always, always hope. Always. Is it death for you? Is it a diagnosis that you're staring down and you're trying to make sense of it and hope feels like it's far away, nowhere in sight.

[Pastor Randy]

I want to tell you, friends, there is always hope. And maybe your life is real good right now. And I want to tell you I genuinely rejoice with you. I'm super, super grateful and joyful with you. But I want to also tell you the Stuff of life that I'm talking about, it's to going, going to hit you eventually.

[Pastor Bill]

It's just going to, you live long

[Pastor Randy]

enough, it's going to hit you.

[Pastor Bill]

And maybe you don't need this word now, but maybe you can file this away for your future self when all of the stuff in the weight of life hits you. I want to tell you real quick,

[Pastor Randy]

there's always, always hope because Jesus is alive. And Peter could talk to this church who was suffering and being rejected and

[Pastor Bill]

ostracized and marginalized and persecuted, and he

[Pastor Randy]

could say Jesus himself is our living hope who's brought us into life. There's always hope.

[Pastor Bill]

Resurrection. What does the resurrection bring us?

[Pastor Randy]

Resurrection, hope.

[Pastor Bill]

The second thing that the resurrection brings us, that I want to talk about this morning, just for a little bit, is this thing that I would call resurrection imagination.

[Pastor Randy]

Resurrection imagination. See, we are constantly being told stories

[Pastor Bill]

by the world around us. And when I say by the world around us, I don't mean to give this like antagonistic us versus them thing. We're part of it.

[Pastor Randy]

But our world is telling really bad stories right now. The stories our world is telling us are stories like violence is a way to power.

[Pastor Bill]

The stories our world is telling us

[Pastor Randy]

right now is that greed is the thing that gets you ahead, right?

[Pastor Bill]

The stories our world is telling us is that greed and lying and manipulation gets you into office, into power.

[Pastor Randy]

The stories our world is telling is that the only way to life is through death and killing and violence.

[Pastor Bill]

And I want to tell you, friends,

[Pastor Randy]

I believe there are better stories to tell in the resurrection of Jesus is wanting to plant these seeds of resurrection in our minds and imagination.

[Pastor Bill]

See, when Jesus was walking around on planet Earth, do you notice in the

[Pastor Randy]

Gospels how he just sees people differently? Do you know what I'm talking about?

[Pastor Bill]

He sees the world differently. In fact, it's why he could. Why he could preach a sermon like the Sermon on the Mount and say,

[Pastor Randy]

blessed are the who the poor in spirit

[Pastor Bill]

feeling. Are you feeling poor in spirit today?

[Pastor Randy]

Jesus says, blessed are you.

[Pastor Bill]

Blessed are those who mourn.

[Pastor Randy]

Jesus says, see, Jesus saw.

[Pastor Bill]

He saw people. He engaged with people and saw them as they really were and who they could be.

[Pastor Randy]

Jesus.

[Pastor Bill]

Jesus had this resurrection imagination to see the world in different ways. And we're all just trying to catch up with him.

[Pastor Randy]

But see, so I just got back on Thursday. I got back from a road trip,

[Pastor Bill]

a family road trip to Florida, spring break.

[Pastor Randy]

It was fantastic, really fun. Sun, warmth, all the things. Trying not to make you jealous

[Pastor Bill]

on the way home.

[Pastor Randy]

Though I was listening to a podcast and like you do, Staying Awake.

[Pastor Bill]

And I listened to this podcast where there was an interview of probably the

[Pastor Randy]

most prominent science writer of our time, Michael Pollan.

[Pastor Bill]

And Michael Pollan just wrote a book

[Pastor Randy]

about human consciousness, which to me is one of the most fascinating things currently I could think about human consciousness.

[Pastor Bill]

And in this course of this fascinating conversation, he was saying how our minds

[Pastor Randy]

are being fought over all the time. We think that we own our own thoughts and we possess our own thoughts, but really, we don't even own those, see, because our thoughts and our imaginations are constantly being vied for by these devices that we've got in our hands 24. 7.

[Pastor Bill]

See, big tech in the politicians have figured this out. And Michael Pollan was talking about how so few thoughts that we have are our own. Let me read you. This is. Do you know who.

[Pastor Randy]

Let me see here. Do you know who Reed Hastings is?

[Pastor Bill]

Reed Hastings is one of the co founders and chairman of Netflix.

[Pastor Randy]

Talk about big tech.

[Pastor Bill]

Netflix is right in the middle.

[Pastor Randy]

And Reed Hastings said this in an interview.

[Pastor Bill]

This is from nine years ago, from 2017. That's a light year that's eons away in the world of tech, right? So much has happened since 2017. But Reed Hastings said this on 2017.

[Pastor Randy]

He said this.

[Pastor Bill]

Sometimes employees at Netflix think, oh, my

[Pastor Randy]

God, we're competing with fx, HBO, or Amazon.

[Pastor Bill]

But think about, if you didn't watch

[Pastor Randy]

Netflix last night, what did you do?

[Pastor Bill]

There's such a broad range of things that you did to relax and unwind, hang out and connect.

[Pastor Randy]

And we compete with all of that. Let me read just. He said this.

[Pastor Bill]

You get a show or a movie you're really dying to watch, and you end up staying up late at night.

[Pastor Randy]

So we actually compete with sleep.

[Pastor Bill]

See, Reed Hastings think. And Big Tech thinks we're not in competition with one another.

[Pastor Randy]

Even we're in competition with your private time.

[Pastor Bill]

We're not even in competition. Amazon isn't in competition with Netflix, which isn't in competition with HBO. Max, which isn't in competition with TikTok, which isn't in competition with Twitter or X or whatever Elon's calling it.

[Pastor Randy]

They're competing for space inside of you. They're competing for the stories in your head that you're told. And see.

[Pastor Bill]

They know a few things.

[Pastor Randy]

They know that science tells us negative

[Pastor Bill]

thoughts are exponentially more sticky than positive thoughts. This is just science. It's a survival mechanism that we learned as human beings along the way that we need to really be aware of what might be trying to kill us or harm us or our families. And so our brains developed in a way that negative nasty thoughts stick in our brains exponentially more than the positive ones. It's as if negative thoughts are like Velcro and our brain just sticks to it and we can't get rid of it. And positive thoughts are like Teflon, they just slide off. It's why it's so easy to be grumpy husbands. This is not permission to be grumpy and be like, hey look, it's just science. Pastor Randy said,

[Pastor Randy]

don't do that name

[Pastor Bill]

out of your mouth.

[Pastor Randy]

See, Big Tech has figured out negative thoughts stick to our brains exponentially more than positive thoughts. Politicians have figured this out. It's why they deal in things like fear and anger and rage. So much rage coming at us through the airways nonstop.

[Pastor Bill]

Trying to get you to turn the

[Pastor Randy]

people around you into enemies.

[Pastor Bill]

Trying to get you to scroll to watch person after person saying things that you are disgusted by so that you can be disgusted by them. Feel self righteous about yourself. And then this cycle continues.

[Pastor Randy]

Friends, when I say that we need

[Pastor Bill]

a resurrection imagination, this is what I'm talking about. We need a better story to tell ourselves. We need these stories of resurrection that we can fill our minds with. Let me read. This is just a tiny little verse, but it's one of my favorite verses

[Pastor Randy]

in the whole Bible.

[Pastor Bill]

This is Romans 4. And when we're talking about resurrection imagination, this is what I think of. Therefore, Paul said, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham's offspring, not only those who are of the law, but also those who have the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all. This is just. I'm not going to go into it.

[Pastor Randy]

It's the background.

[Pastor Bill]

But he says this.

[Pastor Randy]

Here it is.

[Pastor Bill]

As I have written. I have made you a father of men, nations. He is our father in the sight of God in whom he believed.

[Pastor Randy]

And here it is.

[Pastor Bill]

This is the sentence, the half sentence

[Pastor Randy]

even, that just fills me with wonder. He is the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not. God is the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that are not. You know, what you have to have in order to call into being things that are not.

[Pastor Bill]

And in order to call to give life from the dead, you need this

[Pastor Randy]

redeemed resurrection imagination

[Pastor Bill]

that is able to elevate, that's able to put the phone down sometimes, that's able to Rise above these stories that our culture and the world around us are trying to tell us. It's like a vortex of despair and negativity.

[Pastor Randy]

And I want to tell you friends,

[Pastor Bill]

the resurrection on this Christian New Year

[Pastor Randy]

today that we sit that here, I'm wondering if we could actually submit our minds and our inner lives a little bit, put down our phones and let the resurrection take hold a little bit and grab hold of our imaginations and so that we can see one another in the ways that Jesus saw people around him, so that we can engage

[Pastor Bill]

in the world in different kinds of ways because we see what's possible.

[Pastor Randy]

God wants to redeem our imaginations.

[Pastor Bill]

The place where, where all of that lives. God wants to redeem it. And the last thing that I want

[Pastor Randy]

to just touch on this morning, I

[Pastor Bill]

said resurrection, hope, Resurrection, imagination and what? Resurrection, resistance, Awana jewels and the crown. If you know, you know this is First Peter 5. We're going to the end of First Peter here. This is when basically in all these letters would write these kind of concluding remarks. We read the very beginning of 1 Peter. Let's go to the end of 1 Peter. And he says this. This is kind weird, but it starts in verse 12 of 1st Peter 5. He says, with the help of Silas, whom I regard as a faithful brother, I have written to you briefly, encouraging you and testifying that this is the true grace of God. In other words, Silas wrote it down for Peter. Peter dictated. Silas wrote it down, encouraging you and testifying you that this is the true grace of God.

[Pastor Randy]

Stand fast in it. Here it is. She who is in Babylon, chosen together with you, sends you her greetings, and

[Pastor Bill]

so does my son Mark.

[Pastor Randy]

Greet one another with a kiss of love. Peace to all you who are in Christ.

[Pastor Bill]

She who is in Babylon, it says, chosen together with you. Now, now just. We know with certainty that Peter wasn't in Babylon. And the reason that we know with certainty is that, that Peter wasn't in Babylon is because Babylon hadn't existed for about 600 years at the point that Peter's writing. So why is he saying she who is in Babylon? So the scholars tell us that Peter wasn't actually in Babylon.

[Pastor Randy]

He was in Rome when he's writing the letter to these churches in Asia Minor.

[Pastor Bill]

And he's talking about the church. When he says she who is in Babylon, he's talking about the church. He says, she who is in Babylon sends her greetings. And what Peter is doing there is he's using Babylon as a metaphor because who is Babylon or who was Babylon, the empire, the superpower of the world. In the late 6th century BC, in 586, they came and ran roughshod over the kingdom of Israel, over the people of Israel, destroyed the temple, took the God's people into captivity, and stood against everything that Yahweh stood for, that the people of God stood for. They erased their existence, their livelihoods, their. Their temple, their holy spaces, took them into captivity.

[Pastor Randy]

That's Babylon. And Babylon became this metaphor throughout the

[Pastor Bill]

scriptures of the empires and superpowers of

[Pastor Randy]

the world who set themselves against the ways of God.

[Pastor Bill]

And so Peter says she, the church

[Pastor Randy]

he's talking about when he says she, she who is in Babylon sends her greetings.

[Pastor Bill]

And, and I want to tell you, I'm positive, I'll bet you any money.

[Pastor Randy]

There were some people who didn't like the fact that Peter called Rome Babylon.

[Pastor Bill]

See, because Rome could claim a few things that were really true, actually. They could say, we Romans are the

[Pastor Randy]

greatest gift the world has ever known. That's not true.

[Pastor Bill]

But they said we Romans are the greatest gift the world has ever known. We have the most sophisticated society the world has literally ever known. It's true. They had the most complex and they had a political system that we still model things after today. They had more modern advancements and Rome was really good for some people.

[Pastor Randy]

Rome was really good for some people, namely the men.

[Pastor Bill]

And I'm sure there were some dudes who were in the church in Rome who took exception with Peter calling Rome Babylon. I'll bet you any money, see, because Rome stands for justice. Rome is the best empire the world has ever known. Rome set so many people free.

[Pastor Randy]

Rome was good for them.

[Pastor Bill]

But I want to tell you, I think if Peter were alive today and we're just kind of among us in the American church, and he was writing a letter to a church in another nation, he.

[Pastor Randy]

He would say the church, she who is in Babylon sends her greetings. What I mean by that is we are living just like Peter was in

[Pastor Bill]

the biggest empire the world knows right now and the biggest superpower currently in the world right now. And we are living in a superpower,

[Pastor Randy]

in an empire that if we think

[Pastor Bill]

back a few minutes to what I was saying, that tells stories that says

[Pastor Randy]

in order to have peace, we must kill people. We're living in a nation that says some people are privileged to enjoy the rights and freedoms that we have, and

[Pastor Bill]

some people are not.

[Pastor Randy]

We're going to enforce that with everything we've got.

[Pastor Bill]

We're living in a nation that tells us Stories that greed and manipulation are the way to get ahead and to

[Pastor Randy]

grab power in our world.

[Pastor Bill]

We're living in a culture, in a nation that's degrading our inner lives so deeply we are consumed with the stuff on our phones and the rage and

[Pastor Randy]

the anger and the bitterness and the

[Pastor Bill]

separation, the discord and the division.

[Pastor Randy]

USA equals Babylon, friends, and Peter saying,

[Pastor Bill]

she who is in Babylon sends her greetings.

[Pastor Randy]

I want to tell you, it was a word of resistance to say we're not falling for it.

[Pastor Bill]

See, the resurrection of Jesus, this living hope that Peter started talking about in First Peter has a different word, and it says there is a different way than the empires and the superpowers of the world. There's better stories to tell. There's more hope than despair in the world, and that's because of the living hope that we have in the man, Jesus Christ, the resurrected Lord and Savior.

[Pastor Randy]

What are we giving our minds to, friends?

[Pastor Bill]

What are we giving ourselves to? What stories and narratives are we letting fill our minds? I want to ask. See, you and I have a choice to make. Not just today and Easter Sunday, when it's easy, but tomorrow and the next day and the next day. Are we going to live and fill ourselves with these resurrection imaginations and resurrection hope in the face of all this grief and weight and heaviness, Are we going to choose to embody and live out the resurrection, or are we going to choose just get sucked into this

[Pastor Randy]

vortex of despair and the stories that our world is telling as we end our time?

[Pastor Bill]

This morning, I want us, if you're

[Pastor Randy]

able, would you stand with me just for a moment?

[Pastor Bill]

We're going to sing one more song. Before we do, I want to tell

[Pastor Randy]

you, Jesus, I need you today to

[Pastor Bill]

fill my mind, fill my soul, my

[Pastor Randy]

heart, my inner man, with these stories of the resurrection.

[Pastor Bill]

I want to be reminded over and over again because I'm reminded over and over again of the death and despair and grief, all of that. It sits with me and on me. I need to be reminded over and

[Pastor Randy]

over again, Jesus, of how you showed up to Mary in the garden and just spoke her name and things changed. I want to be invited into that moment where you speak Mary's name and hope is born.

[Pastor Bill]

I want to be reminded over and over again, Jesus, that the resurrection means

[Pastor Randy]

that I can have hope in the face of the despair I feel.

[Pastor Bill]

I want to be reminded over and over again that because you are alive, Jesus, that means life wins. It triumphs over death, that the hymns we sing, we're trying to take in and convince ourselves that and our inner

[Pastor Randy]

men and women that life wins and love wins.

[Pastor Bill]

And so, Jesus, as we sing one more time this morning, we sing that we know this name that fills men and women with hope, that there's a name that, that that has filled the world with healing and life. And that is the story that's being told now. There's a name that says these words.

[Pastor Randy]

I am making everything new. I am restoring all things. And so, Jesus, we sing to you now.

[Pastor Bill]

We sing to this one who has brought freedom and liberation in life. We sing to this one who's telling a new story and who's inviting us into it.

[Pastor Randy]

Thank you, Jesus. Let's sing together, friends, one more time this Easter morning.

[Podcast Host]

Thank you again for being with us. We would love to have you join us if you are ever in the morning Milwaukee area and we hope you have a healthy place to gather wherever you are from.